TERRAFORMING TERRA
We discuss and comment on the role agriculture will play in the containment of the CO2 problem and address protocols for terraforming the planet Earth.
A model farm template is imagined as the central methodology. A broad range of timely science news and other topics of interest are commented on.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Inflatable Room Launching

This is an important first step that informs us what the problems will be in terms of protection from the external environment. I have long posted that we need to build huge bubbles by beginning with a simple inflatable skin. This alone allows safe zero gravity construction.Then with simple expedients such as spray on foams, a serious solid structure can be built. What makes this really exciting is that building out to a scales of miles becomes possible including multiple layers all supported by suspension cables. around a central hub.Again this is a necessary first step

Private Inflatable Room Launching to Space Station Next Year

Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | October 06, 2014

http://www.space.com/27356-bigelow-inflatable-room-space-station.html

TORONTO — A privately built inflatable room for astronauts on the International Space Station is on track to launch into orbit next year.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is expected to head to space inside SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft in 2015, according to a senior representative for thecompany Bigelow Aerospace, which is building the module. Once BEAM gets to the space station, the robotic Canadarm2 will install it on the Tranquility node's aft port to test out expandable-habitat technology.

NASA is paying Nevada-based Bigelow $17.8 million to send the demonstration module to the station, where it will be in place for at least a couple of years. Here at the International Astronautical Congress Thursday (Oct. 2), Bigelow representative Mike Gold said BEAM provides an example of what the company, and private firms in general, can do in low-Earth orbit (LEO). [Photos: Bigelow's Inflatable Space Station Idea]

"LEO will become a commercial domain," said Gold, Bigelow's director of D.C. operations and business growth.

"Maybe it's difficult to see at this point, but we go back to telecom — there was a time when every communications satellite was owned by the government," he added, noting that today, private companies are now responsible for this space domain and that it touches every aspect of people's lives, such as cellphones. "This will happen when it comes to crew operations."

Pushing for change

The BEAM mission will allow Bigelow to collect even more data about how its expandable habitat modules perform on orbit. The company blasted two other modules to orbit as stand-alone missions in 2006 and 2007 and plans to launch a private space station someday.

Private work in space, Gold noted, is hampered by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which restrict the sharing of technology with other countries, particularly China. Citing "Star Trek," Gold joked that Scottish engineer Montgomery Scott would have had trouble speaking openly with Hikaru Sulu (from Japan) if ITAR were in force on the Enterprise.

After gravity, Gold said, ITAR is the second-greatest barrier to getting something off Earth. China, in particular, is the "third rail" of ITAR, Gold said, urging other companies to help him speak to government officials in an attempt to make changes.

"We cannot fight the New Space vs. Old Space battle … with so few companies," he said. "The pie is too small. We need to come together as space enthusiasts."

International standards

Speaking on the same panel as Gold, Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's chief of human exploration and operations, said commercial operations are needed on the International Space Station because NASA "owes the taxpayers some return."

NASA is already starting to put together voluntary international standards that could be used for future orbiting facilities, such as methods of choosing radio frequencies that do not interfere with one another, he said. But the process still needs some work.

For example, Gerstenmaier said, astronauts could not eat any of the lettuce grown onboard the space station during a recent experiment because it had to be sent back to Earth for a health and safety check first.

"That kind of upset me a bit. Couldn't they just eat a little bit of the lettuce to see if they would survive?" he joked.

NASA will use BEAM to evaluate the radiation levels inside the module compared to those on other parts of the space station, he added. The mission is part of NASA's larger push to make low-Earth orbit a place where commercial entities will operate, whether it's through launching CubeSats or ferrying cargo to and from the space station.

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Apr 2017 - 4.1 Mil Pg Views, March 2013 - Posted my paper introducing CLOUD COSMOLOGY & NEUTRAL NEUTRINO rigorously described as the SPACE TIME PENDULUM, September 2010 I am pleased to report that my essay titled A NEW METRIC WITH APPLICATIONS TO PHYSICS AND SOLVING CERTAIN HIGHER ORDERED DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS' has been published in Physics Essays(AIP) and appeared in their June 2010 quarterly. 40 years ago I took an honors degree in applied mathematics from the University of Waterloo. My interest was Relativity and my last year there saw me complete a 900 level course under Hanno Rund on his work in relativity,as well as differential geometry(pure math) and of course analysis. I continued researching new ideas and knowledge since that time and I have prepared a book for publication titled Paradigms Shift&. I maintain my blog as a day book and research tool to retain data and record impressions and interpretations on material read. Do join my blog and receive Four items of interest daily Monday through Saturday.